Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Born Again

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

John 1 is about Jesus first coming into the world. It’s John’s way of helping us understand the meaning of Christmas.  And at the very beginning, John sort of hits us between the eyes and says the reason why Jesus Christ came into the world is so that you might be born again.  It’s all here in two verses, where it says the new birth is 1) essential, 2) radical, 3) simple, but 4) hard. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 4, 2016. Series: Jesus, Mission, and Glory: Advent. Scripture: John 1:12-13. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. Today, Tim Keller is looking at a passage from the opening chapter of the Gospel of John. John begins his account of Christ's birth not with shepherds or angels, but with the mystery of the word becoming flesh. God himself entering the world as a person in Jesus Christ. Join us as Tim Keller explores the meaning of Jesus' birth. The scripture this morning is from John's Gospel, Chapter 1, verses 12 and 13. Yet, to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision,

or a husband's will, but born of God. The word of the Lord. Now, all this year, we are looking at John chapter 13 through 17. And after the first of the year, I and David and other preaching pastors here at the West Side will continue to go through John chapter 13 verse to 17 because that's the place where just before Jesus' death he was training his disciple to be sent out into the world and we are asking God to send Redeemer out into the city in a new way but during this Christmas season we're actually starting at the beginning of the book of John John chapter 1 which actually as you're going to see

I even mention at the very end of this sermon John chapter 1 throws into reliance leave many things that we're going to be seeing in John chapter 13 to 17. But it's about of course Jesus first coming into the world so it's John's way of helping us understand the meaning of Christmas and why he came. And right here

in verse 12 and 13, almost at the very beginning, John sort of hits us between the eyes and comes right up and says the reason why Jesus Christ came into the world is that you might be born again. It's right in your face.

We actually do have a Christmas hymn, Christmas Carol, the Hark the Herald Angels sing by Charles Wesley, who says the same thing. You know that verse. Born to raise the sons of earth. Born to give them second birth. So Charles Wesley understood it. What John was saying, let's us take a look at this.

It's really in your face. And it's John's way of saying that the new birth is essential, radical, and simple. but hard. And it's all here in two verses. It's essential, radical, and simple, but hard. First of all, it's essential. Now, I only have two verses here, but look at the word yet. It starts with the word yet, and that means there's a context that is necessary to keep in mind if we're going to understand verses 12 and 13. And what happened right before was this. John was saying that Jesus came into the world, but the world did not receive him, that Jesus was the light, but the world

was dark and didn't receive him. Verse five actually hints that there's something wrong with the human heart, and when Jesus came, he wasn't received. But then, verse 12 says, yet some did receive him, and all he received him were born again. So there's no middle ground. Either you are born again and you do grasp who Jesus Christ is or you're not born again and you don't. There's no middle ground. It means anyone who claims to be a Christian must be born again to be a Christian.

Now in New York, people have heard the word born again, and most people who in New York have heard the word think it's a type of person. And by the way, you don't want to be that type of person in New York. New York people tend to talk about born again, types and they actually do see it as a sort of a personality type. One of the things they might see is they'd say, well, born again types are people who need an emotional experience. There's nothing in the New Testament that indicates that the new birth necessarily is dramatic or even

emotional. But one idea is, well, being born again, that's some kind of cathartic emotional experience that some people need that. And they'll also say some people just need a lot of moral structure in their life. You know, they can't really think for themselves, so they need a lot of moral structure, need a lot of moral authority. So there's a kind of personality that wants an emotional experience needs authority and moral structure in their life. So there's a, you know, it's a born-again type.

The problem with that whole view is Nicodemus. Now, this is John chapter one, but very, very soon after this, this is actually setting us up for a long interview between. Jesus Christ and a man named Nicodemus in which Jesus brings up the new birth. It's actually the longest passage in the Bible about the new birth. And here's the problem with that theory that being born again is a sort of a type of personality. Here's me tell you who Nicodemus was. First of all, Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedron. He was, that's the ruling council. So Nicodemus was an older male, head of the council, wealthy, established, top of the social pecking order. Very successful.

Secondly, he was a Pharisee, which meant he was incredibly religious. The Pharisees had all kinds of moral structure in their life, and they fastidiously mastered the Bible and followed every single prescription of the Mosaic law. But then on top of that, he wasn't actually what you and I consider in terms of attitude a Pharisee because though he was a Pharisee, he was not self-righteous. He comes to Jesus and Jesus was an outsider, he didn't go to the right

schools, and yet Nicodemus comes with a very open mind and calls Jesus rabbi and says, oh I've heard such good things about you. So this is, here's about as admirable a character as you could see, admirable a figure

as possible. He is he knows the Bible, he's incredibly moral, but he's not self-righteous. He's pulled together. He's successful. Man, he's got it all. And what does Jesus say to him? You know, Nicodemus starts the conversation like this. He says, rabbi, many of us believe that you are sent from God. And does Jesus respond, why, thank you. I've heard great things about you too, which is what you should, right? Well, thank you so much. I mean, I've heard great things about you too, Nick.

No. He's what he says. You must be born again to even understand the first thing about the kingdom of God. What? Look, I hear people all the time saying, oh, to be born again means they got religion.

Oh, yeah, he got born again. He got religion. Nicodemus has more religion than anybody in this room ever will have. And so when he says, he says, you must be born again. when Jesus says that to Nicodemus, it can't be a call to get more religious. It can't be a call to get more moral structure in your life.

It can't be a summons into traditional religion. It's a challenge to traditional religion. Jesus is saying, Nicodemus, nothing you've ever done counts. You must be born again. You've got to start over. And, by the way, there's a whole spectrum, actually. that this verse is telling us about. See, it's not just that no matter how good you seem to be

have pooled together and how great your pedigree, you must be born again. Look here, it says, to all who receive him. Doesn't matter who. And then it says, born not of natural descent or of human decision or a husband's will. It doesn't matter your pedigree. It doesn't matter how good, but it also doesn't matter how bad.

It doesn't matter the answer when someone yells at you, your daddy. It doesn't matter. No matter how good you are, no matter how religious you are, no matter how great your pedigree, you must be born again. It doesn't matter how bad you are. It doesn't matter how messed up you are. It doesn't matter how shameful your background.

You can be born again. So it's essential. It's for everybody. Not just for a type of person. Number two, it's radical. And even though there's only two verses here, it actually, it tells us, to be born again, obviously, it's a metaphor that means, it's a radical metaphor. And the two aspects that we learn here, there's other things we could say from the Bible,

but the two things we find out here, is to be born again means getting a radically new life, that's in verse 13, and a radically new identity, that's in verse 12. A radically new life and a radically new identity. Okay, let's look at it. First of all, a radically new life. Well, that's the metaphor. You must be born again. You must be born.

To be born means a whole new life is starting. And through the Bible, the new birth means the implantation of new spiritual life. Sometimes there are places where it's talked about like a seed. So eternal life, spiritual life, is implanted. in you when you're born again. Another metaphor, of course, is you're born like a child, and you're born into the world. And so even though, by the way, we said the new birth isn't necessarily dramatic and emotional, it may not be dramatic, but it's definite. You're either born or you're not. You either have the seed of spiritual life in you or you don't. You say, well,

what does that mean to get a radical new kind of spiritual life? We're not talking about physical life. In fact, that was Nicodemus' first mistake when Jesus said, you have to be born again. Nicodemus says, how do I crawl back into your mother's womb? And Jesus, I'm not talking about physical life. I'm talking about spiritual life. Well, what does that mean? Well, let's talk about for a minute, what is the difference between having life and not? What's the difference between being a rock, which is a non-organic object, and a plant or an animal or a human being, which is an organism?

What's the difference to being a non-organic object and an organism? What's the difference? Well, I happen to know there's a lot of people in this room probably could tell me 10 or 20 things, but I'll just give you two that I know that are not controversial. What an organism can do that a rock can't do is it can grow and it is sensitive to its environment. It grows and it's sensitive to its environment. See, first of all, it grows. Now, there's a sense in which rocks can grow.

throwing rocks on the pile. You might say the pile of rocks grows, but you wouldn't call that organic growth. You call it mechanical growth. And there is a way in which religious and moral people can seem to grow, but they're actually growing their resume. That is to say, they're growing the things they do. And they've accomplished this and they've accomplished this. And by the way, that's what happens at eulogies. That's what happens at tribute, banquets. This person has done this and chaired this board and given this amount of money and then all this. That's a resume. And it's great. Good. Do it. do all those things. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. But it's mechanical growth. It's not organic growth. You're growing your resume. It's like how rock pile grows by throwing more

rocks on it. But when you're born again, that's organic growth. You're not growing your resume. You're growing personally. Being born again means you grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, humility, faithful, self-control. It means you become one. wiser and happier and deeper. It means you become more aware of who you are. It means you can handle suffering. It means you can handle opposition graciously. In other words, you're growing internally.

You're growing as a person. That's organic growth. Being born again means you grow organically. And if you're not born again, you don't grow in that spiritual organic way. But here's the other way to think about it, is sensitivity to the environment, right? I mean, any living thing, no matter what it is, all away from a plane, up to a human being has some ability to sense what's out there in a way a rock cannot. It's sensitive to its environment. And after 40 years of ministry, I would say one of the clearer ways

I can tell, or you can tell, that someone has been born again is to look at somebody who's born again after years of being inside the church. It's not the only way to do it, of course. But there are many people who have been in the church and they've gone to church all their lives and when they're born again oh the difference they get a spiritual how do i say it you get spiritual sensitivity you get spiritual appetite you get spiritual sight you get spiritual hearing and you get spiritual taste what do you mean well for example i can't tell you how many people who after they've been born again some fact sometimes the way i can tell they've been born again under the preaching of the word even though they've been in church for years they come and say something's happening what i say

well i've been reading the bible on my life and i've read this text all my life and i've read this verse on but it's like somebody turn the lights on say spiritual sight well what do you mean well now i look at that and i've always heard that but now i say if this is true why am i so worried if this is true why am i so upset if this is true why am i overworking see that's spiritual appetite the word is becoming something they digest not just a set of proposition they hold in their mind. It's actually coming in. It's becoming part of them. The Word of God is dwelling in them richly. They're saying, it's comforting me, it's thrilling me, it's convicting me in a way I never saw before. You know why? Because Pinocchio, you've become a real boy. That's the difference between

being religious and being born again. You were moving around, but mechanically. Okay? And now something's happened. See, Jesus is saying, when you get to John 3, he's saying, Nicodemus, you're already ethical, and if you're born again, it'll change you in other ways. Of course, there'll be all sorts of actual behavioral changes that will ensue. But I'm not here to make you ethical. I'm here to make you a new person. I'm not here to make you nice. You're already nice.

I'm here to make you new. So it's radical new life, first of all, to be born again. But then secondly, and this is verse 12, to be born again means to get a radical new identity. It says, who all received him, who believed in his name, he gave right to become children of God. Now, what is that? All right. First of all, you're going to say, well, I thought, what do you mean? The people who were born again are children of God.

I thought all human beings were children of God. According to the Bible, that's partly right. In Acts chapter 17, Paul is preaching to the Athenian philosophers. And he actually says, we are, he's talking about all human beings, we are, his offspring. And there, of course, is a sense in which, since God created all of us, we are his offspring. For example, they say that sometimes I'll say Henry Ford was the father of the Model T. And to be father of the Model T, mean because he was the creator of it. And in that sense, of course, God is our creator, and therefore, in a sense, we're all his

offspring. But you see, what does this mean here? when it says he gave them he gave them they didn't have it before he gave them the right to become children of god okay some of you know what this is this is a legal term this is a new legal status this is called adoption when you are brought into somebody's family you are legally adopted something happens legally and suddenly you get a new name right because you're brought into that family and what is that that's a legally conferred new identity Well, now how does it work here?

It works like this. Let's break it into two. It means intimacy with God and inheritance. Intimacy and inheritance. First of all, intimacy. When somebody becomes your father, let's say, I don't care how big a guy he is. I don't care how important he is. I don't care how powerful he is.

I don't care how nobody can get into see him. If you are his child, you can get into see him anytime. You have access. it's not just access I have a sister who has three biological children and two

adopted children and the two adopted children are of another race than she is and her husband and she always said to me still would I'm sure say

for the life of me as much as I know my own heart I've looked and looked and looked and I can't tell any difference in the way in which I regard my children it means nothing to my heart whether biological or legally adopted at all and i think and listen and my my sister is a great woman but she is just a human being and yet if a human being can achieve that how much more god and therefore do you know what it means to be an adopted child of

god to know that you're adopted into the family of god it means to say the god and father of my Heavenly Father loves me with all the magnitude and intensity with which he loves his only begotten son. As 2025 comes to a close, it should come as no surprise that we have great hope for the year ahead because of what God is doing to bring people to faith and to renew Christians through the gospel teaching and resources you help us provide on our podcast, YouTube channel, radio broadcast, quarterly journal, and website, and soon through our transatlose. translation project. We're grateful that so many of you are partnering with us to spread the message of Christ's love. Thank you. God continues to provide opportunities for us to expand the ways we share the gospel. In 2026, we anticipate adding new international radio broadcast and additional online ministry partnerships, publishing new books and beginning to make Dr. Keller's sermons available in other languages. So as we close out the year, we invite you to prayerfully consider making a year-end gift to gospel in life.

The year-end gifts we receive are a vital part of how we will prepare for ministry in 2026. Your support allows us to share the story of the gospel with people in over 200 countries, and we are deeply grateful for your participation in this mission. To make a year-end gift, visit gospelonlife.com slash give. That's gospelonlife.com slash give. And please pray that we would steward your gifts well and that through the ministry of gospel and life, many new people will find the hope and joy of knowing Christ as Savior.

Thank you for partnering with us to share the love of Christ with a world that needs him because the gospel truly changes everything. Now here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's message. In fact, you're going to get there. We're going to see in John 17, Jesus actually says, Father, love them even as you've loved me. And so for a Christian to be able to say, my Father in Heaven loves me more than I love myself.

My Father in Heaven wants to give me more things than I want to give myself that I can even imagine. To get this radical new identity means to live on the platform of that knowledge every day, all the time, no matter what's happening to you. But then the other side, of course, of this new identity adoption, besides the intimacy is the inheritance. If you are adopted, that means you get whatever your father has. Eventually it comes to you.

And boy, oh boy, you know what that means? Romans 818 says that on the final day, on judgment day, when we're glorified, that is, God gives us new bodies, new souls and bodies. We become perfect. We become, you know, you know about that. But you know what it says there. It says at the same moment, all of creation will get glorified. the natural world as beautiful as it is is a shadow of its future self and we will rule and reign

there the bible says we'll be kings and queens in a new heavens a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness and that means i don't know what that means let me have a sentence shot at it it means every blade of grass will be so sharp and clear So infinitely, deeply rich in radiant color, so unbearingly beautiful, that every single second your heart will just be overflung with praise to the maker. And that's your inheritance. Or as one author said, he can make us, even the feeblest and filthiest of us, into bright, stainless mirrors reflecting back to God his own boundless love and glory and beauty and delight

and nobility and wisdom that's your inheritance now what is an identity everybody an identity is finding your significance and your security in something then you know who you are and of course maybe it's pleasing your parents so if i'm pleasing my parents i feel significant and secure or maybe it's the fact that you're an accomplished person in your career and you have a good career and you're making money, or maybe some political cause. But do you know how unstable, unstable, and how fragile all those identities are? They're incredibly fragile because they're based on your performance, ups and downs, and circumstances. You're always being whiplash. There's always insecurities, always in emptiness. But what about this identity? Let me give you an extended

case study. I just don't know a better one. I've never probably given you generally the whole case study because I always give you snippets of it. As a woman I met when I was a young minister in Virginia who'd had a horrible life but she gave me her testimony how she'd become a Christian and it really affected the way which I think of the gospel. Basically her life had five phases to it. As a child growing up, she said it was my religious moral phase. She went to a very conservative church and so she grew up and she said, I'm okay, I'm somebody because I am so moral. I'm more moral than everybody else. But the problem is, is if that's your identity that you are a moral religious person,

decent, more moral than other people, well, the trouble is you will fail. And when you fail, you'll hate yourself. And she realized there was a kind of instability in this identity because it couldn't take failure. Well, what good is that? But then, fortunately, she said, or unfortunately, she grew up and she found out that she was beautiful. She was really, really pretty.

And so men desired her. And so she shifted, and she started to say, say, I'm okay, and I'm somebody because men desire me. And there's a certain kind of power in that, as you know. And yet, when she found out, the trouble with that was that now she needed to have a man, she needed to have somebody desiring her. And as it was, a result of that, is that she found herself staying in relationships beyond when she should have, getting into relationships she shouldn't be in, allowing a certain amount of abuse. She realized that she was essentially addicted to guys. And that was, of course, obviously, that identity wasn't functional.

Well, then she went to counseling, and the counselor told her, this is back in the 1970s in Virginia, so it was much more radical today. It's just normal in New York. And so what the counselor said was, look, you should, look, this is the problem of being a woman in our society. You feel like you need a man to be complete. You think you're okay and you think you're somebody because a man desires you. But here's what you have to do. You have to feel good about yourself because you are an accomplished successful person in your own right. You need a job. You need a career. You need a good career. And then you can say I'm an independent person. I'm okay and I'm somebody because I have a successful career. And so she said, okay, I went in that direction. And in some

ways it was more functional, but she said, I found something that my career bumps, where every bit as devastating to me as my romantic life bumps had been. And I was actually every bit as fragile as I had been before. So this identity really wasn't working. Then somebody came along, this is, by the way, now phase four, and said, well, you know what, that's just very materialistic of you to be thinking that money and careers. No, no, no, no. If you want to really feel good about yourself, feel like you're okay and you're somebody,

you need to help people. You need to do charity work. You need to do volunteer work. You need to be out there and help the needy. So she said she threw herself into that. And at first she did like it. And maybe, frankly, you know, in some ways she felt every one of these phases was a little better. And she said, eventually I came to realize I didn't like these people.

And worse than that, I was using them. I was using them. I was using them so that I could feel good about myself. But as a result, I wasn't actually in many ways serving them very well. I was sometimes manipulating them. I was sometimes resenting them. And then along came somebody and shared the gospel with her. but when she heard the gospel at first she thought oh i'd done that that was my first phase i tried

the religion thing and then she began to say wait a minute wait a minute this is not just a new identity factor this is a whole new way of an identity operating because even when i was religious and marla i was trying to save myself and every single time i was trying to be my own savior my own lord And every time my identity was rooted in being, I'm moral, I am beautiful, I am successful, and I am helpful. And every single time, it was fragile and unstable because it was based on my performance and the circumstances of the world. But this is radically different. Intimacy with the Lord of the Universe, that's my security. And I can't lose that.

It's unconditional. Inheritance of the Lord of the Universe. I'm going to inherit the universe. There's a significance. Also, way past anything else anybody could offer. And she said, it changed everything. See how radical that new identity is? Okay, last.

I gave you an extended case study because it makes the last point rather simple. How do you get this? Well, it tells you. It's very simple. Yet who all who did receive him, who believed in his name. Now, that's, those are, the grammar there shows that those are not two different things.

It's saying the same thing twice. What does it mean to receive Jesus Christ? You know, see, the word yet means the world did not receive him, his nation did not receive him, but those did receive him who? Those who believed in his name. What does that mean? Well, see, it's actually so simple, it's hard. It's so simple, it's hard. If I was going to break it down, and the way the New Testament breaks it down, and it says,

here's how simple it is to get this new identity, to get this new life. Repent and rest. To believe in his name means to repent, stop believing in other names or in your own name and rest in what he has done for you. Now, what does it mean to repent? Most of us, when you hear the word repent, and the Bible is constantly saying, repent and believe the gospel, if you go to the book of Acts, every time people say to Paul or Peter, what must we do to be saved?

They say, repent and believe in Jesus. When you hear the word repent, what do you think? That means. You think it means ask God's forgiveness for what I've done wrong. Sure, it does, of course. But if you think that's all it means, here's where you get tripped up. I've talked to so many people over the years

that thought, I've become a Christian. Why? I ask God's forgiveness for what I've done wrong, and then I promise to live for him. Is that what it means to believe? in his name? No way. Why not? Well, here's what you're doing. You're saying is, please forgive me for what I've done in the past, but now I'm coming to you with my sincerity. I'm coming to you with my surrender. I'm coming to you and I'm really going to live for you. In other words,

you still don't know what it means to be born again. Why? Because when you're born, people who are born, they contribute nothing to the birth. A baby is not born because, a baby is not born because, because of his or her planning. The baby is not born even really that much through the pain and labor of the baby. It's somebody else's pain and labor. In other words, the parents are the ones who bring about the baby, not the baby. And what that means then is you have to come to repent, actually means to do what that woman, that's the reason I gave you that long case study.

What did that woman finally figure out? She realized in every case, not just that she had done bad, things. She had particularly done, by the way, bad things during her beautiful phase and during her successful phase. She found because she needed to be successful, she cheated and overworked. And that's why her identity wasn't very functional there either, because she had to be successful, see? So she did bad things. But repentance for her meant to say, not only do I repent of the bad things I had done, I repent of the reason I was doing all the good things, which was to try to be my own Savior and Lord, trying to create my own identity instead of resting.

See, to be born again means to say, you have done it all. I do nothing. I need to be saved by grace. Some years ago, I heard a minister say, here's what's so hard about repenting. Here's what's so hard about becoming a Christian. All you need is nothing, but most people don't have it. See, when you say, forgive me for what I've done, and now I'm going to live for you, you're coming with something. No, no, no, no.

you've got to come with nothing you've got to come and say everything i've ever done bad and good has been trying to create my own identity instead of resting in what you've done so first of all you have to repent which means you come with nothing nothing in my hands i bring simply to thy cross i cling there they are by the way nothing in my hands i bring that's repentance simply to thy cross i cling and that's resting in him and of course what that means is by the way remember I mentioned Charles Wesley, who wrote Hark the Herald Angel Singh, a friend of his name, William Holland, became a Christian one night, 1730-something, where they were listening to someone read aloud Martin Luther's commentary on the Galatians,

the preface. And at one point, Luther said this, talking about what it means to become a Christian, and at one point Luther said this, what? Have we nothing to do? No, nothing. But only except of Him, who of God is made unto us to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He's our wisdom. He's our righteousness. He's our sanctification. He's our redemption. Do we have nothing to do? No, nothing. But simply rest in him and say, Father, nothing in my hands I cling. Nothing in my hands I bring. Please accept me because of what Jesus Christ has done. And like I said, that's actually hard. But here's what might help. there's a place in john 16 we're going to get to it later where jesus makes something

says something really interesting he says a woman giving birth to a child has pain because her hour has come but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child was born into the world now i've seen that happen three times i watched all three of my sons being born. And my wife has said over the years that if men had babies instead of the wives, the women, that every family would have only one child in it. Now, I don't know about that, but I do know this. The labor and the effort that brought about the birth of each of my sons was not their labor and effort.

It was hers. And it's interesting because Jesus Christ says a woman, it's interesting when she says, he says, a woman giving birth to a child has pain because her hour has come. Some of you already know that in the book of John, when Jesus talks about his hour, it means he's going to the cross. And is it possible here's what he's saying? I think it is. Back in the old days, before epidurals and, you know, and bedrooms, you know, in hospitals, and, and, you know, anesthesia. Not only did all children get born through the suffering and pain of their mother, but also at the risk of her life every time.

But Jesus Christ is saying, you are born through my pain, through my suffering, through my work at the cost of my life. And it was horrible what I experienced on the cross, but like a woman I saw this three times too like a woman in labor and suffering the minute she sees the child her joy overwhelms her pain

and what is he saying he's saying you're worth it to me look at that listen to that think about that let that move you and then rest in that and you'll get rights

to become children of God yes it's hard our culture says don't don't give yourself up the culture is constantly talking to us about. You don't want to humble yourself. You don't want to give up control. You don't want to give up control. But that's what Jesus did in order to win you. This is what C.S. Lewis says at the end of one of his books. Let's leave it with this. The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself

and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end. Submit with every fiber of your being and you will find eternal life keep back nothing nothing that you have not given away will ever really be yours nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead look for yourself and you will find in the long run only hatred loneliness despair rage ruin and decay but look to christ for christ and you will find him and with him everything and else thrown in. Let's pray. Father, we're going to pick up the tokens of your son's death.

His labor, his pain, is suffering. We are born through his death. And we thank you for that. And we just ask, Lord, especially for those of us who do know that we've been adopted and we do know we've received new life, but we do not live out of our identity and we do not cultivate that life in us as we should. Now, help us do that do that more deeply, more richly, more fully as we participate in body and blood. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it and that it helps you apply the gospel to your life and to share it with others. For more biblical resources from Tim Keller, visit gospelinlife.com. There, you can subscribe to

the Life in the Gospel Quarterly Journal. When you do, you will also receive free articles, sermons, devotionals, and other great gospel-centered resources. Again, it's all at gospelonlife.com. You can also stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X. Today's sermon was recorded in 2016. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. You know,